Beyond the Bay
by Knife Hand
Summary: After the events of Episode Five, life still goes on but it is not all sunshine and butterflies, because all choices have consequences. Some immediate, some much further reaching. Major Spoilers for Episode Five. Chapter 2 uploaded.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Beyond the Bay.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: All Five Episodes.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Life is Strange.

Summary: After the events of Episode Five, life still goes on but it is not all sunshine and butterflies, because all choices have consequences. Some immediate, some much further reaching. Major Spoilers for Episode Five.

* * *

Chloe and Max were in a state of shock as Chloe slowly drove her truck through the ruins of Acadia Bay. Max has seen how much damage there was when she had moved through the town, helping who she could. She had seen cars thrown through the upper stories of buildings, eighteen wheeler big-rigs flipped on their sides and buildings half collapsed. That was before the storm proper had even hit the town. Now, most of the town was simply gone. The Two Whales was just a foundation. Blackwell was a pile of rubble. Chole's house… that entire neighbourhood was simply gone.

They had just driven out of town and just kept moving until night fell and then they had parked the truck on the side of the road. Max was woken the next morning by the sounds of emergency services vehicles passing, jerking her head up off of Chloe's shoulder as the first Police Car passed.

"Chloe, look." Max said, shaking her friend awake.

As Chloe slowly awoke, Max jumped out of the truck and flagged down one of the Fire Engines. Chloe got out of the truck and came around to stand by Max. At first the Firemen were annoyed that they had been flagged down, until the girls told them that the had come from Arcadia Bay, then they paid rapt attention because what they were being told was first hand information, rather than the vague reports they had been acting on. It was mostly Chloe who told the story of what happened with the storm, while Max was musing on her choices.

Most people would have struggled to make any choice given the decision she had to make, and it had been a tough choice for Max. Warren would have probably quoted Mr Spock and said 'The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'. Kate would have quoted the bible. For Max though there was no real choice, the tough part was living with it.

On the one hand were the people of Arcadia Bay. Warren, who was sweet but a bit too intense. Victoria, who was a stuck up bitch. Kate, who had given up and committed suicide. Joyce, who had been sweet to her but had never really gotten over William's death. David, who was broken from his experiences in combat. Frank, the angry drug dealer. All the others who Max barely knew or did not know at all.

On the other hand was Chloe. For Max, the last week had been centred around Chloe. The first time she had rewound time was to save Chloe. She had seen her best friend swear, fight and die. Hell once, in another reality, she had killed Chloe herself to stop her suffering. She had sacrificed William, a man who was like a second father to Max, for Chloe. She had been drugged, kidnapped and assaulted for Chloe. She had bent the laws of time and space for her blue haired, foul mouth punk.

Arcadia Bay was a concept, not something that you could hug or celebrate with or cry with. Chloe Price was flesh and blood, and the one thing Max could not live without.

Chloe touched Max on the shoulder, pulling her out of her introspection.

"Thanks Max." Chloe said, sarcastically. "You pull the over, then stick me with talking to them while you zone out."

"Sorry Chloe." Max said. "I was just thinking about everything."

"Oh man, I was a douche just then wasn't I?" Chloe said. "You save my life god knows how many times and I act like a total biatch. Not that I don't appreciate it, cause I hella do, Max."

"I know, Chloe." Max said. "It's just… I don't know. I think I… we need some distance from all this. Get a little perspective."

"I hear that." Chloe said. "Look, we still got some money left from the Disability Fund. Why don't we head over to Portland? We can get a room for a few days, take stock. Try and find out if anyone else made it out."

"Yeah. I guess." Max said, slightly despondent. "I should probably call my parents too. Let them know we are alive."

Chloe just nodded as she moved around to get into the Truck. Max got in and dialled her parents number on her smart phone as Chloe started up the engine and pulled back on to the highway.

* * *

Max jerked awake with a scream, waking Chloe who had been sleeping next to her. Chloe instantly wrapped her arms around Max, making soothing sounds as Max sobbed into her chest. It was two days since they had reached Portland and Chloe had rented a small room for the two of them. For the moment they were adrift with no real plan or purpose. Max's parents had tried to get them, or at least Max, to go to their house in Seattle but they had refused.

Chloe did not want to lie outright to the Caulfield's but honestly how could you stay with someone and not explain the full mind-fuck that had been their last week, particularly with how emotionally volatile Max had been the last few days. Max, of course, had refused to go anywhere without Chloe.

After about ten minutes Max had settled down enough to be able to speak.

"Sorry, Chloe." Max said, wiping the tears from her face and looking down at Chloe's soaked shirt.

"It's cool Max. Just tell me what's wrong." Chloe replied.

"I dreamt that I was back in the Dark Room." Max started in a small voice. "Jefferson had dragged you body in an had placed it in front of me, telling me over and over that it was my fault that you were dead and Arcadia Bay had been destroyed for nothing."

"Hey, Max." Chloe said, rubbing Max's back. "It was just a dream, and that asshole is dead."

"Yeah, I suppose. I mean I know David put a bullet in his head in the last timeline when I told David that Jefferson had killed you." Max said.

"The Step-dou… David did that?" Chloe asked.

Max simply nodded. The pair of them showered, individually, and then got dressed. They were sitting at the breakfast table eating a breakfast of cereal while Max read the Portland Tribune. The top story was about the storm that hit Arcadia Bay, but it was short on details.

"Chloe, did you bring your Laptop?" Max asked.

"Sure, I had it in the truck." Chloe said. "Why?"

"I think it's time to set the record straight about what happened in Arcadia Bay." Max replied.

"Max! You can't tell your story to the press. They'll think you are insane." Chloe said, shocked.

"Of course I am not going to tell them my story." Max said. "I'm going to tell them your story, Chloe."

"Are you fucking nuts, Max?" Chloe said. "That is a hella bad idea."

"Trust me, Chloe." Max said with a grin.

* * *

Two days later, Chloe was putting down the paper in shock as she read Max's article. That's right; the article was published under Max Caulfield's name. 'Life and death in Arcadia Bay: The Chloe Price Story' was the name of the article, and it was accompanied by three of Max's Photos. One was an image of Chloe leaning against her truck in front of her house; one was a picture of the destruction of the waterfront in front of the Two Whales of washed up whales in the foreground, things burning behind the whales and the oncoming storm dominating the background and the final picture was a shot of Chloe and her truck overlooking the completely decimated town.

The article told the story of one woman's crusade to find out what happened to her missing friend to the background of weird weather leading to the revelation of corruption, betrayal and murder as a once in five hundred year storm hit. Even Chloe, who had lived the events, had been riveted to the story told from a perspective she had never seen herself. It had sown Chloe as a strong female figure who, while being fallible, was driven to right a terrible wrong. It had given a more personal face to the tragedy and gotten readers interested in what had happened to Arcadia Bay and its people rather than just thinking 'oh that's sad' and going on with their everyday lives.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Beyond the Bay.

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: All Five Episodes.

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Life is Strange.

Summary: After the events of Episode Five, life still goes on but it is not all sunshine and butterflies, because all choices have consequences. Some immediate, some much further reaching. Major Spoilers for Episode Five.

* * *

Chloe clenched her right hand into a fist to stop the shaking. It was a few weeks since the destruction of Arcadia Bay and both Chloe and Max had moved from Portland down to Sacramento, living in a one bedroom apartment that belonged to a friend of Max's parents, one they had been given rent free for two months.

They had kept up with the news of the search and rescue efforts in Arcadia Bay till their conclusion two weeks after Max's article had been published. There would be no rebuilding effort for Arcadia Bay. In total, including Max and Chloe, only seventy people survived the 'Tornado', with the only other person they knew being Dana Ward from Max's dorm. Most of those survivors had told the same story. A story of David Madsen ushering them to safety before heading back out into the teeth of the storm to save more people.

As David Madsen had been mentioned in Max's article on Chloe, the editor of the Portland Tribune had asked Max to write an article on David. While not as moving as the article on Chloe, which had all the emotion of both saving and losing her best friend, the article on David Madsen portrayed a man deeply wounded by his past who was trying his best to protect those around him in a world he could no longer understand or easily interact with. A head of security who still thought in military ways and a parent who could not find a way to relate to the step-daughter that he cared for and wanted to protect.

The two articles had netted Max a decent chunk of money which, when added to what was left of the Disability Fund money, gave them enough to live off for a few more weeks, but it would not last forever.

For Chloe it was a tough to stop the shaking, and the pain was at times almost unbearable. If it was not for the promise she had made to both Max and the memory of Rachel then Chloe would have given in, lit up a joint and gotten baked, but she was determined to go clean. Max had been with her every step of the way, encouraging her through the withdrawal.

Chloe reached out to grab a cup of coffee and Max quickly reached out and moved a jam jar just before Chloe's arm trembled and would have knocked over the jar.

"Did you just rewind?" Chloe asked. "Did you fucking just rewind?!"

Max avoided Chloe's gaze, and it clicked for Chloe that Max still regularly used her rewind powers. Shaking her head, and clenching her fists to stop her hands shake both from the withdrawal and anger, Chloe just stood and walked away from the table and locked herself in the bedroom and slid down to the floor with her back to the door.

"Chloe." Max said through the door.

"I thought you weren't going to rewind again." Chloe said. "We agreed. We can't risk another Arcadia Bay."

"I know." Max said. "I don't use it for big things that could lead to another storm."

Chloe stood up and pulled open the door to confront Max.

"You should not use it at all." Chloe said, before holding up her shaking hand. "I'm going through this for you. This is the worst physical pain I have ever been in, and it hella hurts. Realising you are still fucking around with time, that hurts me worse than anything. Worse than this, worse than Rachel going missing. Worse than finding her body, or losing dad."

"Chloe… I…" Max tried to say.

"No more, Max." Chloe said, her hands almost shaking out of control and she collapsed to her knees. "No rewinds… ever. We have another chance at life, and life is not perfect."

"I won't. I promise." Max said.

"You better, 'cause otherwise I'm walking." Chloe said. "I never thought I would say this about you, Max, but you are an addict. You're addicted to the power your rewind has to make things right. I can give up mine for you; can you give up yours for me?"

* * *

Both Chloe and Max stared at the education department official who was sitting across from them at the dinner table in their small apartment.

"So… you're telling us all we have to do is sit some exams and we graduate High School?" Chloe asked.

"Due to the complete destruction of all school records in Arcadia Bay, it has been decided to give the four surviving school aged teenagers this opportunity." The representative said. "The education department will provide all the books, a study timetable and a teacher who will evaluate your progress. We estimate that the schedule should allow you to sit the exams in two to three months. It will be considered a full High School Diploma, not a GCSE."

Chloe and Max looked at each other and Max quirked an eyebrow. Chloe had been expelled from Blackwell about a year ago and would have to work twice as hard as anyone else to pass the tests, while Max had been at Blackwell on a Photography Scholarship and had not been one of the brightest students in other areas. For Max, this was an opportunity to possibly get into a good Collage for a Photography or Photojournalism Degree. For Chloe it was a possibility for something that had been mulling in her mind for a while, but one she was not ready to share her idea with Max. Chloe slowly nodded, and Max turned back to the representative.

"Ok, we'll do it." Max said.

"Alright. Your supervising teacher will be here in four days to get you started." The representative said.

* * *

A month and a half since they had agreed to undergo the offered chance to get the High School Diploma, and Chloe had just finished her shift at her job. Chloe had gotten a job at an alternative music store, enough to pay the small rent on their apartment and their food, while Max had sold a few photos both to newspapers and to a gallery. The newspaper shots were of events around the city that Max had observed, while the two photos that had gone to the Gallery had both been of Chloe.

"I'm off, Steve." Chloe said as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and waved to her boss.

"See you later, Chloe." The store owner replied.

Chloe walked out of the store and turned down the street, but not towards the apartment. Instead she walked toward her Gym for her workout. She worked three days a week at the Music Store, after which she would go to the gym. Evenings and the other two weekdays were mostly spent doing the schoolwork with Max. Though Max had more free time to do her schoolwork, Chloe had a natural intelligence in her favour. An intelligence that had gotten her A's in school when she was younger, back when she had given a fuck about School. Back before the cumulative blows of her father's death, Max leaving for Seattle and Rachel going missing had disillusioned her to school.

Chloe nodded to a few familiar people as she entered the Gym and got changed into her workout clothes. While never flabby, Chloe's body had hardened up over the last month and a half and the muscle had become more defined, and a glance in the mirror showed that her natural blonde was beginning to show through at the roots of her blue hair. Chloe made her way over to the weights machine and began to bench press weights.

An hour later she finished her workout and, after a shower, she walked the few blocks back to the apartment where she found Max in the small kitchen of the apartment cooking dinner. They took turns at cooking duties, with Max taking the days Chloe went to work while Chloe, by far the better cook, took the rest of the evening meals.

On impulse, Chloe came up behind Max and wrapped her up in a hug from behind.

"How was your day?" Chloe asked, releasing the hug.

"Not bad." Max said. "The paper wants me to go to the Cultural Festival on Saturday, take some photos. Maybe even write up the article."

"Sounds sweet." Chloe said.

"I was kind of hoping you would come with me." Max added.

"Course I will." Chloe replied. "How am I going to be your bodyguard if I ain't there?"

Max leaned back into Chloe, who was reaching around her to steal a bit of food from the frying pan. Chloe just smiled. Max had become a bit more accepting of physical contact since they had left to Arcadia Bay, but the photo-geek was still so innocent it was almost funny to the blue haired punk.

TBC…


End file.
